Uncategorized13.01.2017Comments Off on Debt, Health Care and Credibility of Republican Politicians

Again and again we see Republican candidates shout about the federal debt. A typical statement, made by Republican Congressional candidate in California Ben Campos, reads,

Stop the deficit spending, eliminate the waste, balance the budget and restore accountability. Why is it that we as citizens are required to live within our means and if we don’t we face consequences such as the inability to attain credit or even worse the loss of our property? The United States as a country is no different. It cannot defy the laws of economics before it too will face similar consequences.

I am confused. Where were these people during the Bush administration, when $6 trillion of that debt was accumulated before the baby boomers even started to retire?

America’s debt problem was fixed by the Clinton administration. At the end of the Clinton administration, not only was the federal government not running deficits but it was also running sizeable surpluses. Bush destroyed that accomplishment through irresponsible tax cuts on highest incomes. The result was not only vast and unnecessary debt, before baby boomers even started retiring, but also a contraction of private sector and a huge financial crisis.

The Republicans were very quiet about this accumulation of debt when one of their own was in power. And now that a Democrat is in the White House, suddenly federal debt is a life-and-death issue for America.

I am reminded of the Republican proposals for alternative health care measures than the Affordable Care Act. Where were these proposals before? For many decades Republicans acted as if nothing was wrong with America’s medical system. And now that a Democratic president passed a bill to correct the problems with America’s medical system, suddenly the Republicans supposedly care about health care and have all these proposals to deal with the issue.

The reality is that these Republican politicians care neither about federal debt nor about health care. They care about one thing and one thing only: Political gain. When one of their own is in power, then anything goes. When someone who is not one of their own is in power, the sky is falling and America is dying and Tali-commies are taking over the world.

In fact, Republicans have no credibility either on debt or on health care. The giant deficits began under Reagan, were corrected under Clinton, and then ballooned under Bush, with Republican Congress for six years of his rule. As for medicine, the Republicans have done nothing about it for decades and are only interested in the issue now because a Democratic president has passed a bill.